Personal weather station

Roof-mounted weather station instruments

A personal weather station is a set of weather measuring instruments operated by a private individual, club, association, or even business (where obtaining and distributing weather data is not a part of the entity’s business operation). The quality and number of instruments can vary widely, and placement of the instruments, so important to obtaining accurate, meaningful, and comparable data, can also be very variable.

Today’s personal weather stations also typically involve a digital console that provides readouts of the data being collected. These consoles may interface to a personal computer where data can be displayed, stored, and uploaded to Web sites or data ingestion/distribution systems.

Personal weather stations may be operated solely for the enjoyment and education of the owner, but many personal weather station operators also share their data with others, either by manually compiling data and distributing it, or through use of the internet or amateur radio. The Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP) is one such, and the data submitted through use of software, a personal computer, and internet connection (or amateur radio) are utilized by the National Weather Service when generating forecast models, and by many other entities as well. Each weather station submitting data to CWOP will also have an individual Web page that depicts the data submitted by that station. The Weather Underground Internet site is another popular destination for the submittal and sharing of data with others around the world. As with CWOP, each station submitting data to The Weather Underground has a unique Web page displaying their submitted data. The UK Met Office’s Weather Observations Website (WOW) also allows such observations to be shared and displayed.